Colours will do the talking once more in state capital Ranchi, as seasoned hands get ready to paint vivid imagination on the canvas during Palash-2012, an annual art camp organised by the Chotanagpur Arts Research and Development Society (Cards).

The 25th edition of the camp, which kicks off in the lawn of Hotel Ranchi Ashok from Friday, will see more than 12 artists from across the country, beside 16 members from the society taking part in it.

Speaking to The Telegraph, senior artist and president of Cards Dinesh Singh said invites had been sent out to artists from Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Calcutta and Santinketan, most of who had agreed to be part of the three-day camp.

“We also have sent out an invite to Mumbai-based senior artist and writer Milan Mukhopadhyay, who too has expressed his willingness to be a part of the camp,” added senior artist and secretary of Cards Haren Thakur.

The organisers said Cards had been holding such camps since 1984 to primarily patronise art and give exposure to artists and their works.

“Such camps have become a regular feature once we took the initiative. Though, Ranchi is still not known for patronising art in a great way, the camps have certainly helped in popularising visual art among a section of people,” an organiser said.

In fact such has been the effect of Palash, that motivated by it, many other art promotion societies have also started hosting similar camps at regular intervals. Union Club and Library has been holding such camp — called Wide Canvas — for the last five years. The latest edition of Wide Canvas concluded in the state capital on Tuesday.

Palash has over the years also hosted a lot of noted painters and sculptors of the country, which includes the names of artists like Sarbari Roy Choudhury, Prakash Karmakar, Bijon Choudhury, Suvaprasanna and B.R. Panesar.

“Organising an art camp is not an easy job. Though we do not pay anything to the participating artists for attending the camp, we do bear their travel expenses and staying and food expenses. We require funds for holding any such camp,” Thakur said.

He added that the society often approached various companies and individuals for donations and sponsorship for the event.